Last Updated on December 2, 2025 by Laura
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No other European country screams “explore me by train!!!” more than Switzerland. Idyllic landscapes, easy intercity connections and family friendly carriages make train travelling to Switzerland your winning golden ticket to explore the country. Take off also the stress of finding parking and driving in a foreign place and you will have the perfect recipe for your next holiday. In this blog, I will guide you through my 10-day Switzerland by train itinerary that you can directly copy and paste for your Swiss holiday. Easy-peasy.
This blog is focused on Swiss train-travelling. If you need some general information about Switzerland, I would recommend reading my country guide here.
Traveling around Switzerland by train. All you need to know
Switzerland by train itinerary – view of Basel
Switzerland is the ideal place for a train trip itinerary. Indeed, it’s small enough that its train system can potentially cover one side of the country to another is a couple of hours. Moreover, the jaw-dropping landscapes make the trip much more enjoyable. Swiss train system is entirely covered by SBB. Here below I’ll give you some essential information on how to get your tickets and passes as well as tips according to my experience.
Is travelling by train in Switzerland expensive?
In a short sentence yes. Is not cheap travelling by train in Switzerland (but what else is cheap in that country???). However, there are various convenient offers and a few tickets that are cheaper at certain times. Generally, I thought that Swiss trains are certainly cheaper than UK ones and we did a little comparison with how much it would have costed us to rent a car + parking + fuel + tolls. It was actually cheaper by train. Without counting the stress of driving in a foreign country! So, train won for us in this occasion but of course you’ll need to check if this is good for your needs too. If it is, the tips below will help you.
Setting an account with SBB. Issues and troubleshooting
The first thing I recommend you to do it for your Swiss train adventure is setting up your personal account with SBB. Indeed, SBB has a very useful app where you can keep all your tickets and passes as well as saving your travel plans. Nevertheless, despite you can use the app freely, tickets and cards won’t be saved unless you have logged in with your account. By doing this process, I discovered that setting an SBB account is actually challenging. Indeed, it seems the system has some issues with new registrations and don’t allow new users to get their new login account.
How to resolve SBB app login and SwissPass registration
Don’t worry. I’m quite stubborn and after a few (hours) of attempts. I managed to trick the system and get my account. So basically, what happens is that when you register your login details and want to confirm them, the system crashes and shows “an unexpected error has occurred”. The culprit of this “unexpected error” is actually the Address part.
In fact, I discovered the system recognises only the 6 country showing before the dashed line to initially create a login. If you put any other country, it simply gives you unexpected error. Indeed, at the beginning I didn’t know what was wrong and I simply put my address in the UK. Of course, I wasn’t able to register. Then, that dashed line was kinda suspicious to me. Why these countries are separated from the other??? So, I used the address of my parents in Italy and MAGIC. The login proceeded correctly. So you’ll just need to use a random address in one of those countries to register.
Then, once you get your credential, go to your personal profile and from there you can change your address with your real one. That’s a bit annoying but at the moment is the only way to register. I hope that sooner or later they’ll spot the issue and fix this.
Once you have created your login, it’s time to get your tickets or travelcard.
Getting a travelcard
Switzerland by train itinerary – SBB app travel card view
If you are staying more than 5 days in Switzerland and plan to travel by train, my suggestion is that of getting one of the travel cards available for tourists. These are either the Half Fare Travelcard or you can also opt for a Swiss Pass if you are staying longer and need cover also for museums and attractions. This winter, there is also a special Winter Trial GA travel card. Let me explain them in detail.
With the Half Fare Travelcard you can travel for half price on all SBB trains. Moreover, you can use the car for half fare on buses, trams and even certain museums! We chose this option because we stayed just 10 days and kids are still too little to pay for trains, so it was the perfect option for us. The card cost 120 CHF (about £115/$148) per person.
The Swiss Travel Pass entitles you to unlimited travel in Switzerland by train, bus or boat. This is available for 3, 4, 6, 8 or 15 consecutive days and includes also entrance to more than 500 museums nationwide. Price start at CHF 244.00 ($317/£233 circa) for 3 days in 2nd class.
Either if you buy the half fare card or the Swiss Pass, once you have your login and dowloaded the app, these will appear on your app account. So you won’t need to carry a paper.
Navigating the SBB app to book train tickets
Switzerland by train itinerary – SBB app ticket view
All you need to purchase your train tickets in Switzerland is the SBB app. This connects either to Apple Pay or any credit card and it’s very straightforward. Of course, you can also purchase paper tickets at any of the ticket machines at the station, but I found this time consuming and, personally, I loose everything. So a paper ticket would be probably lost in 10 mins in my case.
From the “Plan” section, simply select your departing station and your arrival station and you will see all the options. In the upper right hand corner of each trip you can see “% from CHF 14.60 (or any other price)”. This is the discounted price of the ticket if you have an half-fare card. If you click on the time/ticket that interest you, you will then see many other details such as the type of train and carriages, the route you need to take if there is any change and the offers that you can apply for the ticket.
I found this function very useful to discover which train had the family carriage, specifically the one with the play area.
If you are travelling as a family, make sure to add all the people who need a ticket from the ticket options. From here you can conveniently add also the city cards (e.g. City Basel etc.).
Saver offer tickets are generally cheaper but valid only on a specific route. I used them a lot but purchased them last minute when sure that I was at the station in time for that train (with the children we never know!).
Boarding your train
Something that I found incredible in Swiss stations is the absence of barriers. Coming from a place like London where you can’t go anywhere without scanning your phone/oyster multiple times, this absence of checks really caught me by surprise. I guess that not many people in Switzerland feel smart and board trains without paying!
So, when searching your train you won’t need to scan your ticket anywhere. Just board the coach you need. Family coaches are marked by a bear logo. First class is usually in the A or D section of the track (the live screen on the track will update you on where to find the exact coach).
Second class vs First Class travelling on Swiss Train
Switzerland by train itinerary – Second vs First class on SBB trains
During our trip we tried a mix of second and first class train travelling. I found both classes equally comfortable. In terms of “what you get” there isn’t much more you get on the first class (e.g. in certain first classes in the UK trains you get a complimentary snack/water). In Switzerland, the major difference I noted between the two classes is in the seats. First class seats are slightly larger. Also, there is more luggage space in first class while in the second is very limited and ofter full.
First class tend to be much quieter and empty while second class can be super busy, even overcrowded during weekends or holidays. It happened a few times that we couldn’t find a place to seat. Price difference between the two classes can be quite steep, so we tried to choose the first class only when the route was worth the price (e.g. longer train ride/ overcrowded lines).
There seems to be a seat reservation system in place in both classes but we didn’t see anyone using this and all seats were mostly free to use.
Travelling with young kids by train in Switzerland
Switzerland by train itinerary – Family coach with play area on SBB trains
If you are travelling with young kids (1-7 years), they will probably love Swiss trains. Aside from the granted excitement of being on a train, Swiss trains have very special family carriages with playground included. Indeed, when checking the train information, in the section “train formation” you can see what type of carriages there will be in your train. If you find the below description,
it means that the train you are boarding have a playground area dedicated to children. Please note that not all the trains have a play area. Some trains have a family coach but is just a carriage where kids won’t be judged if screaming or walking around because it’s dedicated to families. If you want to make sure you get a play area, check the train formation before you book. Remember also that children under 6 travel for free!
10-day Switzerland by train itinerary
Now that you have all the information you need to book your train tickets, it’s time to put in practice your itinerary. Here below you’ll find step by step my exact itinerary for Switzerland. A few notes on this itinerary. It’s not perfect, my ideal itinerary would have included much more hiking and mountains but I adapted our trip to include our 5 years old twins.
One important consideration is that the season you will visit will impact the trains schedule/availability. I noted that certain routes were completely curtailed or modified because we were travelling off season. Therefore, keep in mind that certain locations might be easier to reach in summer other in winter depending on the type of peak travel of that season (e.g. winter for Zermatt, summer for Interlaken etc.).
Regarding your “base camp”, you might want to base yourself into a location and go on day trips (recommended to those who travel with young kids like us), or change each day location by train. I’ve considered both options for us when planning. Probably changing destination every day is slightly cheaper (train wise) but this means also you’ll need to carry a luggage with you and change hotel every day. Seemed stressing. So I personally opted for the base camp. However, also the hopping option is totally doable.
Day 1 – Arrive in Basel
Switzerland by train itinerary – view of Basel
Located beside the Rhine River in northwest Switzerland, Basel is a very good base to explore this part of the country. Moreover, is well-connected nationwide and also to France of which shares the Basel-Mulhouse airport. I have to say we didn’t chose Basel purposely, we wanted to visit Switzerland and Basel tickets were quite convenient as with BA we could depart from Heathrow.
As we arrived late in the night, most of our first day in Switzerland was spent to reach the hotel, have dinner and prepare for this new journey.
For our stay in Basel we opted for Novotel Basel City as our base camp. I had a little indecision at the beginning, because I initially opted for Essential by Dorint City (both hotels good for families), but in the end Novotel was better connected to the main station. Since this was a train trip holiday, we needed to be as close as possible (to recover all the time lost because of our slow kiddies) to the station and Novotel was just at two stops away (or 15 mins walk). Moreover, all the hotel guests get for free the Basel Card. This was a great advantage as allowed us to use the public transport for free. It can be used also for museum discounts.
Breakfast at the hotel is good with a decent choice of items. Free water machines are conveniently positioned around the hotel and there is also an onsite gym.
Day 2 – Zurich
Switzerland by train itinerary – Zurich
Our very first train trip in Switzerland brought us to Zurich. This is a 53 mins journey that is quite straightforward from Basel. Cost of the train A/R x 2 people (children under 6 don’t pay) was £68 ($89.54 circa). Zurich is quite a walkable city so we decided to explore it on foot rather than take additional public transport.
Most of our visit focused on the old town (altstadt). We started with a lovely walk on the Limmatquai riverside arriving then to the imposing Grossmünster. Just below the church, there is a lovely panoramic terrace offering perfect photo opportunities.
Our lunch choice was the Swiss Chuchi Restaurant, this is located within the Hotel Adler and it’s one of the most famous traditional restaurant in the area. Cheese fondue was absolutely delicious and they have also a children menu. I warmly recommend you to book this restaurant in advance because it’s often fully booked.
We continued our tour on the other side of the river going up to the famous Lindenhof. Also from this side of the city the view is really stunning and the foliage mad everything looking even prettier. Also, if you are a fan of the K-drama Crash Landing on You, this is one of the locations where it was filmed! Unfortunately, Yun Bin wasn’t there but we found a lovely playground hidden just below the panoramic square for the joy of the kids. Apparently, tourists with kids didn’t spot this “secret garden” because they were all crowding the two swings up in the square when the hidden park was completely empty!
We didn’t do much for the remainder of the afternoon except walking around.
Additional activities to do in Zurich
From my first impression, I believe that Zurich as a whole requires at least two days to be appreciated in full. There were things I wanted to do, such as visiting the Lindt Chocolate Museum, but this required an extra day. If you have more time or want some special tours, here are my top choices.
Stay in Zurich
If you are planning to stay longer in Zurich, you perhaps want to check-out some of my favourite hotels below:
Day 3 – Lucerne
Switzerland by train itinerary – Lucerne
Our second train trip from Basel brought us to Lucerne. The fastest train from Basel is usually 1h and 20 mins and the price for two adults on a HF is circa £68.12 ($90). Lucern (or Luzern) is a little and well-preserved medieval gem. Similarly to Zurich is entirely walkable (even with kids) and most of its attractions are within the Old Town.
We started our walk from one of the main landmarks of the city, the Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrücke). The unique wooden bridge crossing the river Reuss is the oldest truss bridge in the world. It originally dates back to 1365 but a fire in 1993 destroyed 2/3 of the interior paintings. Despite the heavy rain the bridge was very crowded but beautiful to visit! Lucerne is always been quite a unique city and originally had 3 covered wooden bridge, two of them still surviving (Kapellbrücke and Spreuerbrücke).
Most of our morning was spent walking and exploring Lucern altstadt (old town) and making sure we checked all the important points such as the Rathausturm and Sternenplatz. I really wanted to have some more Swiss food ( I was particularly keen on the Old Swiss House) but for lunch but the kids were demanding a good Mc Donald’s (I couldn’t blame them after all the fondue we had the day before). So we couldn’t try any particular restaurant in the city. Nevertheless, we managed to try the special hazelnut coffee at Confiserie Bachmann.
In the afternoon, we drifted out the old town to visit the Lion of Lucerne. While there, we visited also the Glacier Garden of Lucerne. This was the kids’ favourite activity for the day. Indeed, despite the rain they had so much fun getting around all the areas of the outdoor museum.
Additional activities to do in Lucerne
I believe that one day is usually ok to explore Lucerne. Due to the rain, we missed a few spots but overall I was satisfied from our visit. Lucerne is also a very good starting point for visiting Mt Tiltis or Mt Pilatus if having more days in the city. Below, I added a few extra activities I found interesting for an extended itinerary.
Stay in Lucerne
If you are planning to stay longer in Lucerne, here are some of my favourite hotels below:
Day 4 Basel to Bern
Switzerland by train itinerary – Basel city
On our last day in Basel we actually decided to explore the city. Why during the last day? Because having to move to another base camp on the same day, we took advantage of our hotel to leave our luggage until it was time to catch the train. Moreover, we knew we had a final last day in Basel at the end of the trip. Therefore we were covered in case we missed something.
Things to do in Basel
Basel is quite a large city and I admit we could spend more time exploring it (it is also true that we did some walks around in the evening once we returned from our day trips). However, I preferred to have a good understanding of the city in general rather than checking off every single point. The old city is quite extensive and we visited both on this day and during our last day at the end. One game we played with the kids is counting all the fountains we could find around (we counted more than 10).
Basler Münster is certainly worth a visit and the terrace behind the church offers a fantastic view on the river. If you are into museums, Kunstmuseum Basel should be a must-stop. However, at the moment I recommend also a stop at the Fondation Beyeler for the incredible exhibition of Yayoi Kusama (my favourite artist). This will be until 25th Jan 26 and I recommend booking your tickets in advance. Recommended lunch stop is Schlüsselzunft or Coccodrillo (for a more informal stop). We also enjoyed a sweet stop at Cinnamood (despite not sure if that not-cinnamon roll was worth the price and queue).
When we concluded our exploration for the day we boarded a train to our next stop: Bern. The fastest train to Bern is 1h 15 mins and we paid £39.74 ($52.60 circa) in two.
Where to stay in Bern
For our stay in Bern we chose Stay Kook Bern City. It’s a very good accommodation for friends and families as it’s an hotel but with big communal spaces (e.g. Kitchen, game room, lounge etc.). So we could basically cook some meals at night but with the comfort of an hotel. For couples or in general luxury stays a better option is Hotel Bellevue Palace.
Day 5 – Thun
Switzerland by train itinerary – View from Thun Castle
Even after changing base camp, our train itinerary continued from Bern. This time taking us to the shores of two famous lakes (Thun and Interlaken lakes). This day was originally planned as an hiking day in between the two cities. Nevertheless, the heavy rain destroyed our original plan so we opted to keep it simple and stick only to what it was mostly doable with two 5 years old: visiting a city. We opted for Thun since it has a castle and, you know, children love castles (me too but don’t tell anyone).
The fastest train to Thun from Bern is just 19 mins. We paid about £20 ($26) in two and it was a quite convenient trip. Since it was raining quite heavily and the destination was close, we decided to head out a little later.
Things to do in Thun
Thun was a very good choice and the children loved it. When we arrived it was actually raining less than expected so we walked alongside the river. Similarly to Lucerne, also Thun has a wooden covered bridge called Flusswell. It’s very nice and much more quieter than its famous cousin. We continued with a walking tour around the city. The centre is really small and it took about 15 mins to visit (maybe because it was completely empty!). There is a good restaurant in Rathausplatz callde Zunfthaus zu Metzgern where they serve traditional rösti.
After lunch, we headed up to the castle. After climbing something like 400 steps I discovered there is actually a lift connecting the castle to the city centre. ANYWAY. Entrance to the castle is just 10 CHF pp and we had so much fun. There is a trail kids can follow and a room where they can dress up as knights. The best part? Thanks to the horrible weather we were literally the only ones and had an entire castle as our afternoon playground. Moreover, the sky cleared up and we manage to see a beautiful landscape!
Additional activities to do in Thun
Given the unfortunate weather (a perk of travelling off season), we missed part of the program of the day which originally included a cruise in Lake Thun. However, the area of Interlaken/Thun is very beautiful and full of other incredible activities to do (particularly on multiple days. I grouped here my favourites.
Where to stay in Thun
Two best choices for stay in central Thun are Hotel Krone Thun and Hotel Emmental. If you want to stay slightly out of the city and with a lake view, Hotel Seepark is the perfect quiet choice.
Day 6 – Lauterbrunnen
Switzerland by train itinerary – Lauterbrunnen
The second train trip we took from Bern was to a place on my bucket list for quite a long time: Lauterbrunnen. The magical fairytale valley with over 72 waterfalls which inspired Tolkien’s Rivendell. Reaching Lauterbrunnen from Bern takes about 1h and 22 mins with a train change in Interlaken (during autumn and winter months there might be a bus replacement). We paid £71 ($94) for two A/R tickets with our half fare card.
Lauterbrunnen is a fantastic area to explore and, if you have time, I would recommend at least two days. However, we had a great day here even on a day trip. Another tip is to arrive as early as possible. Not much for the possible crowd (which you will find anyway) but because the valley is in between very high mountains and the sun goes away quite quickly during the autumn and winter months.
Things to do in Lauterbrunnen
We started with a visit to Lauterbrunnen main waterfall: Staubbachfall. We discovered there is a free trail up to the hill that actually goes behind the fall! To note that you might get quite wet, especially during a rainy period. Also stairs are a little slippery and tight, so watch your children! We continued our walk up to the other two nearby waterfalls (Spissbachfall and Buchenbachfall). Unfortunately the restaurant we wanted to try for that day (Weidstubli) was closed so we headed slightly back for a terrace lunch at Hotel Restaurant Schützen.
During the afternoon, we caught the local bus and headed to the majestic Trümmelbachfälle. This is a system of glacier waterfalls located within a canyon. Very scenic to visit! Kids loved the cave-elevator. The last stop of the day was the lovely Lampaca Farm. Here we could met and feed a few lovely Alpaca and Lamas. It was a very funny recommended experience. Also the return walk to the station was very scenic as we passed through the river, a wooden bridge and even a lovely playground.
Additional Activities to do in Lauterbrunnen
As I said before, Lauterbrunnen is a wonderful area to explore and with additional days a few other activities can be carried out. Below my favourite:
Where to stay in Lauterbrunnen
Lauterbrunnen is a very small village so there are not a large number of hotels. Perhaps one of the nicest one in the area is Hotel Silberhorn with a nice panoramic view on the waterfalls. However, if staying multiple days to explore the whole area Interlaken could be a better option as a base. Among my favourite places there is the beautiful Victoria Jungfrau Grand Hotel & Spa and the charming Hotel Beausite.
Day 7 – Bern to Zermatt
Switzerland by train itinerary – Bern
Before moving to our last part of this train trip in Switzerland, we of course visited the city where we were based: Bern. Despite being much smaller in size than other Swiss cities like Zurich and Geneva, Bern is the capital of the country and the historical centre is quite small to explore. I admit that compared to other places we visited, Bern felt a little underwhelming but it has a few nice corners too. One of my favourite landmarks was the ancient astronomical clock Zytgloggeturm dating 1405. It reminded me the beautiful one seen in Prague. We also spent some nice time in the gardens behind the cathedral, here there is a beautiful view and they are also ideal for a picnic.
Another surprising part of the city is the 14th-century Fricktreppe. A medieval staircase with 183 wooden steps connecting Old Bern to the lower Matte district. Bern is also home of one Europe’s most enigmatic fountains, the Kindlifresserbrunnen (the child eater fountain). It still unclear what the fountain represent despite multiple theories. I personally told the children this guy will come for them if they misbehave LOL.
On my bucket list (but unfortunately we didn’t go because of the kids) there was also the stunning Kornhauskeller Restaurant & Bar. I hope we can return for a second round and try it!
Taking the train to Zermatt from Bern
In the afternoon we caught the train to Zermatt. This is a 2h and 10 mins journey from Bern and you need to make a change in Visp. We paid £88 ($117) circa for a one way ticket to Zermatt for two people. The hotel we used for our stay in Zermatt is Hotel Derby which is perfect for a family since is very centrally located. However, for couple or luxury stay I would have probably opted for BEAUSiTE Zermatt or Cervo Mountain Resort.
Our arrival was pretty scenic since despite being October, we found quite lots of snow! So the children were pretty excited about it. The first night was pretty relaxed as we just checked into our hotel and then had dinner at one of my favourite restaurants in town, Grampi’s.
Day 8 and 9 – Zermatt
Switzerland by train itinerary – View of Zermatt
Before entering into the details of what we did in Zermatt for two days, I need to give you a few information that could be useful for your trip.
Zermatt is mainly famous as a mountain ski resort. This means that your visit is largely affected by seasonality. Summer and winter are the two peak seasons here with winter being almost overcrowded. I worked with the Zermatt resort for many years and I hated winter! No rooms available, no restaurant accepting reservations. People seemed to book their dinners 6 months in advance. Christmas holidays? Pure nightmare. That’s why if you are planning to visit in winter for skiing or because it’s incredibly pretty, do your homework and start to book everything months in advance.
Day 1 in Zermatt
Switzerland by train itinerary – Mt Gornegrat, Zermatt
Our very first day in Zermatt started with a very filling and slow breakfast at the hotel. Our plan for today was taking the scenic Gornergrat Cogwheel Railway up to the summit of Mt Gornergrat and then head back down hiking. Nevertheless, because it snowed pretty hard the days before I wasn’t sure the hiking trails were open. Therefore, as a first stop we went to the tourism office and we asked some update about the trails status (better to check in advance, especially when having young children with you).
As we thought, most of the trails down were inaccessible due to the snow and we were also not equipped for such sudden (very unexpected) autumn snowy weather. Therefore, we changed slightly our plan and took the cogwheel up to the mountain but returned the same way. The ride on the Gornergrat Railway is one of the most spectacular you can do in Zermatt and despite being quite expensive, is one of the must-do activities in town!
Tickets cost CHF 96.00 pp A/R (£90/$119) but if you have an half-fare railway card you’ll pay just CHF 48.00 (£45/$60). Children under 6 don’t pay. There are a lot of activities to do in the summit and the tickets allows you also to do hop and off at various stations. You can book your tickets here.
Afternoon in Zermatt
Returned just in time for lunch, we decided to take a long break and afternoon was all about exploring the city and a good coffee and cake at Bäckerei Bistro Fuchs. We had a very good walk and admired the beautiful Matterhorn shining in all its glory from various view-points. Dinner was at one of my favourite restaurants: Schäferstube, where we had a lovely fondue. I recommend to book in advance as this place is small and gets booked pretty fast!
Day 2 in Zermatt
Switzerland by train itinerary – Matterhorn Glacier Paradise
Our second day in Zermatt was all about altitude. Indeed, our planned activity was heading up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at 3883 mt. This is Europe’s highest mountain station and it takes about 45 min to 1h to reach it from Zermatt. Also in this case tickets cost CHF 99 (£93/ $123) but you can use the railway half fare card to have a 50% discount.
Once you arrive at the top, there are many activities to do. Including a panoramic open terrace with a view on 14 glaciers, a cinema and an ice palace excavated inside the glacier (kids loved it!). We completed our experience with a lunch at the highest restaurant in Europe! If you are a skier, the station connects also to various piste you can take.
When we headed down the mountain it was already afternoon. We originally planned to explore the nearby gorge but the sun was already behind the mountains and the kids were exhausted. Therefore, we decided just to collect our luggage and take the train back to Basel avoiding to arrive too late at night.
Return to Basel was our longest stretch on Swiss train (3 h 26 mins changing at Visp) for this reasons we gave us an upgrade and booked a first class ticket for this (quite busy route). We actually found a very good offer with a 2×1 pass and added on top a first class upgrade for a total price of £132 ($175) for two people.
Day 10 – back to Basel and departure
Returned to Basel, we had a last half day before our flight back to the UK late in the evening. We took this half day to explore part of the cities we didn’t manage to visit on our first round. After a relaxed breakfast we took a convenient tram to the city centre (only two stops away) and explored the “Universitat” area. Here a lovely 15th-century gateway called Spalentor is still perfectly preserved and offer a picturesque entrance to the Old City.
From here, we proceeded with a walk in the picturesque alleys and reached an upper part of the city. Here we found a landmark called Lonhof, a medieval Augustinian monastery dating 1206 that is now converted into Basel history museum. We returned back to the centre of the Old City for a quick lunch and a must-visit stop to Cinnamood, a pastry shop selling incredibly tasty variations of the beloved cinnamon rolls.
Half day passed pretty fast and in a second we were already travelling towards the airport. A very good thing is that the Basel card covers also your airport bus, so we managed to save some ££.
Train trip to Switzerland Map
Here above, you can see a visual map of the area I covered by train during this trip. Please note the map says “driving directions” because there isn’t an option for train itineraries in Google my maps (unfortunately!). If you want a more schematic itinerary of what I covered, please see this below.
Base camp schematic Swiss train itinerary
- Basel > Zurich > Basel
- Basel > Lucerne > Basel
- Basel > Bern
- Bern > Thun > Bern
- Bern > Lauterbrunnen > Bern
- Bern > Zermatt
- Zermatt > Basel
Loop Swiss train itinerary
I recognise that having a base camp worked perfectly for us because it was the less “stressing” option since we were travelling with the kids. However, if I was alone or perhaps with just my husband we would certainly preferred avoiding the base camp and just switching cities on a loop. So, in case you prefer this option this would go as follow:
- Basel > Zurich
- Zurich > Lucerne
- Lucerne > Bern
- Bern > Thun/Interlaken
- Thun/Interlanken > Lauterbrunnen > Thun/ Interlaken
- Thun/Interlaken > Zermatt
- Zermatt > Basel
Switzerland train itinerary cost
As you probably know, if you are one of my loyal readers, to track the expenses of my trips I use an app called Trabee Pocket. It’s quite useful to estimate how much one spend in different things. I try to log as much as I can in the app. Of course I might forget some expenses, but I usually manage to log at least 90% of what I spend. In the case of Switzerland, I think I managed to log a good 90 to 95%. I think I forgot some of the food bills to be honest.
However, I logged all the train expenses and these took a good 18.3% of the budget spent for a total of £741,62 ($981 circa) for two people. This budget included both half fare cards and all the train tickets bought in the time spent in Switzerland. The half fare pass costed £233,19 ($308) for two. So considering we paid half fare tickets for each voyage we managed to save £275,24 ($364) on trains compared to what we would have spent without card (£1,016/$1,344). However, considering the card’s discount are applicable also to certain attractions, the total saving I believe was around £400/450 ($529/495).
Travelling by train in Switzerland is inevitably expensive, so I believe the half-fare card was a good deal! Planning your itinerary in advance might help saving a little bit more as well.
Hotels cost
Overall, the major expense was of course accommodation taking away most of our budget (46,4%). We didn’t stay in cheap hotels but we didn’t splurge on luxury either. I’ve also booked most of the accommodations months before and this help me save around 10%. A good 90% of my bookings were done on Booking.com or Expedia. These are usually my go to platform. Indeed, I have a higher tier status and receive more perks and discounts for my reservations. I hope these tips help you for your trip!
Happy travels!
Plan your trip to Switzerland
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